


Reign of Thorns

by for_t2



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sports, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Feelings Realization, Football | Soccer, Frustration, Hotels, Kissing at Midnight, National Women's Soccer League, Portland Thorns, Rivalry, Seattle Reign, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25102696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: The first match of the Challenge Cup is always one of the most explosive, especially when two arch-rivals face off, and especially when each team's star player absolutely, personally, hate each other
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Kudos: 21





	Reign of Thorns

It took every bit of strength Buffy had not to punch her fist right through the hotel wall. Every last bit.

“Well, well, well,” the cause of both her immediate annoyance and her general life annoyance drawled. “Look who the cat dragged in.”

“This isn’t your hotel.” The league had, after all, separated the teams into different hotels for this exact reason. “You’re not supposed to be here.” Buffy desperately tried to stop her brain from short-circuiting. “Get out.”

“Plumbing problem, B.” Her… Well, words didn’t even begin to describe how much Buffy loathed Faith Lehane, from the very ground she stood all the way up to the disturbingly attractive leather she insisted on wearing in 30-degree heat. “Guess there’s been a change of plans.”

“But…” She had barged into the Reign academy tryouts one day, bragging about she was going to make Seattle her town, and somehow managed to slot instantly into the lineup and somehow managed to spark with Buffy in a way that made them the best defensive pairing the country had seen in decades, until…

Until the accident. Until she signed with the Portland Thorns. Until she spat on everything Buffy had ever done and everything Buffy had ever dreamed. “It is now.”

“But…” All Buffy could do was try not to gape as Faith barged past her roughly. As Faith walked into her hotel. As Faith just existed. “This isn’t your hotel.”

Buffy had been looking forward to the Cup, for the chance to stretch and get back on the pitch for the first time in weeks so, so badly. And yet, it was all going wrong before it even started.

 *****

Buffy cracked open her eyes. Glanced through the darkness at Will, sleeping peacefully in the other, blissfully unaware that her roommate for the tournament had just spent a few hours tossing and turning.

“Dammit.”

Peacefully unaware that Buffy was sneaking out of their room.

*****

The dead of night was a special time. As quiet as it was, sometimes it felt like the only time Buffy was really alive. The way the air cooled and the stars danced made her muscles tingle with energy and her skin tingle with… aliveness.

It really was the best time to go out for a run. And, somehow, her runs always ended up in the same spot: on pitch.

She grabbed one of the balls, juggled it a few times, kicked it out into the grass and… 

Stopped.

The ball rolled right into Faith’s feet. “Can’t sleep, B?”

“What the hell are you doing?” Buffy took a careful step towards her. Tensed her muscles, just in case. “Shouldn’t you be in your hotel?”

“When have I ever had an early bedtime?” Every step Buffy took was matched with one of Faith’s. “Don’t you know me, B?”

“I thought I did.”

Faith snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means…” That Buffy really hated the way her nerves burned whenever she got close to her. “It means that you need help.”

“I need help?” Faith snorted even louder. “Look at you, B. You need to do something about that stick up your ass.”

“You’re unbelievable.” Buffy knew the accident hadn’t been Faith’s fault. “I tried to help you! I tried so hard.” But everything that followed was. “So why are you still doing this?”

“Cause, B.” Faith dropped her voice dangerously low. “I can’t wait to beat the crap out you tomorrow.”

Punching Faith was a terrible idea. Buffy did it anyway.

*****

Buffy groaned at the sound of the alarm. Getting some exercise at night = good. Having to wake up early the next morning = not so good.

“Buffy!”

But at least it was game day. And she really missed playing. So, slowly, she pushed herself upright.

“Buffy!” Only to find Will right in her face. “What happened?”

It took Buffy a sleepy moment to realise she still had a smudge of dried blood underneath her nose. “I, uh…” Ah yes, Faith. Suddenly Buffy was feeling very, very awake. “Nightmares?”

“It’s her, isn’t it?”

“No.” Buffy pouted at the look Willow gave her. “Maybe.” At the way Wil crossed her arms. “I don’t want to talk about her. Not now. Not ever.”

“Buffy…”

Buffy just jumped up. Grabbed her shorts. “Wanna go for a run?” And hurried away from the line of questioning as fast as she could (which, considering she was elite by the standards of elite athletes, was pretty damn fast).

*****

When she wasn’t eating breakfast that morning, Buffy was running. And when she wasn’t running, she was eating breakfast. Either way, she had her plate full. Absolutely nothing to distract her mind or her muscles. Nothing she needed to talk or think about. Just yummy, delicious food an exercise.

It wasn’t working.

By the time the match drew near and the team wandered onto the field for warm-ups, Buffy’s skin was still burning. Even if she pointedly kept her back turned away from the other side of the pitch, where the enemy were warming up all evil-like. Even as she hammered ball after ball after ball into the net (much to the Reign’s keeper Tara’s concern).

“I.” Buffy lined up another set of balls. Hammered one forward. “Absolutely.” Hammered the next. “Hate.” Hammer. “Her.” Hammer.

“Maybe you should try talking about it instead of taking it out on the poor goal.” Tara had long given up even trying to block any of the shots.

“Why is she like this?” Hammer. “Why does she think she’s so cool.” Hammer. “Why can’t she just be…” Hammer. “Normal!”

“It’s okay to not be normal.”

“It’s not okay to…” Buffy stopped in front of the last ball. Glared at it. “To…” To run. To hide. To treat Buffy like was she was just a toy. To treat the sport like it was just a stupid game that was beneath her. “It’s not okay to be her. With her stupid leather and winks and stupid moves and…” It really wasn’t fair how good the Thorns’ black jersey looked on her. “She hates me, and I hate her.”

“And that’s not okay?”

“She said she was going to beat the crap out of us!”

Somehow, Buffy managed to make Tara sigh. “Is that really what you’re worried about?”

“No.” Duh. Buffy wasn’t worried. Faith didn’t make her worried. Buffy was better than that. “Because we’re going to beat the crap out of her.”

Somehow, Buffy managed to make Tara sigh twice. “Buffy, I don’t think that’s really a healthy way of—”

“Soccer is healthy.” That was the whole point of sports. Of friendly competition. “Super healthy.”

Tara’s eyes went a little. “Buffy, watch out!”

“Huh?” And then it hit Buffy. “Ow!” The ball kicked all the way from the other side bounced off Buffy’s head and trickled into the net.

Buffy didn’t need to turn around to know Faith was smirking.

*****

“Buffy, a word please?”

“Coach?” Giles pulled Buffy to the side just as the team was lining up to march out onto the pitch. “What’s up?”

“Listen,” he took off his glasses and wiped them in that very British way. “The Thorns maybe our greatest rivals, and I know your, um, our history with Faith is still very recent, but—”

“No buts.” Buffy gave him her best smile (which almost always managed to win him over). “Because we’re going to kick their butts.”

“Buffy, just…” He sighed as the lineup started to move out. “Please don’t do anything rash.”

*****

From the moment the whistle blew, Buffy could feel Faith’s eyes locking on to her (mainly because her eyes were locking onto Faith).

“Come on, B.”

It didn’t help that, at some point after she had joined the Thorns, she had decided to switch from defence to striker.

“What’s the matter, B?”

And Buffy was increasingly convinced she had done it precisely to annoy the living shit out of Buffy.

“That the best you got, B?”

“Well, F.” Buffy was this close to snapping. “You haven’t scored yet.” This close. “Which means that at least I’m doing my job.”

Faith laughed. “Wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t tease you first.” Winked.

The second the ball bounced their way, Faith hacked Buffy’s legs down.

*****

Buffy drained her water bottle in one gulp. “I hate her.” Crunched it between her fingers and flinged it into the quarantine empty stands. The hydration break had just started and she was already itching to get back into the game. To get back at Faith.

“She did deserve a yellow,” Will nodded sympathetically as she handed Buffy another water bottle. “It’s ridiculous the ref didn’t catch it.”

“Everything about her is ridiculous.” Buffy made the mistake of glancing towards the Thorns’ bench. Towards her and the way a few drops of water slid out from her lips and down… “Everything!”

 *****

The moment Faith’s feet cradled the ball just outside the box, Buffy saw opportunity.

And she didn’t hesitate.

“What the hell, B?” It took Faith no time at all to scramble back to her feet. To bear down towards Buffy, separated only by the teammates keeping them apart.

“What’s the matter, F?” Buffy could play this game too. “Too rough for you?”

The fury in Faith’s eyes made Buffy grin. She was winning.

*****

OL Reign – 0 : Portland Thorns – 0

“We just need to find a path through their defenses.” Giles sketched out the tactics on the locker room whiteboard. “Willow, please try and get more passes to Amy and Cordelia.” Will and the two strikers nodded in full focus. “Anya, please… keep doing whatever it is you’re doing. It seems to be working.” The Swedish midfielder nodded enthusiastically. “Kate, Fred, I want to see more deep passes. And, Buffy…”

“Yes?” She didn’t like the way Giles paused as his eyes landed on her.

“How would you feel about moving up to striker?”

“What?” No. Absolutely not. Never. No.

“We need the power up front, Buffy.” He scribbled something else on the whiteboard. “And maybe Coach Rayne had a good idea when he moved… her up. We can beat him at his own game.”

“But what about Faith?” As much as Buffy respected, as much as she cared for her coach, she was not going to let this happen. “I’m the only one who can keep her in check.”

“Anne and Kendra are quite capable. And—”

“Please.” Buffy was practically ready to beg. She was not going to let Faith get away with anything, and if she was going to do that, she needed to be in a position where Faith couldn’t slip away from her. “You know she’s just going to find a reason to come after me anyways.”

Giles spared a glance towards the other defenders, who all shrugged (they might’ve been just a little terrified of Faith and Buffy and the energy between them). Sighed. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

*****

“Damn, B.” Faith picked herself back off the ground. “Really got some quality rage, eh?”

Buffy shook the turf out of her hair. “Shut up, Faith.”

When the ball came their way again, they slammed right back into each other.

*****

The more the match continued, the more Giles’s fingers twitched towards his glasses.

A heated match was one thing, and he was no stranger to those (there was a reason his club career had earned him the nickname Ripper – and he didn’t like to dwell on that), but watching his star player get into tussle after tussle after increasingly rougher tussle with a former player of his (and a former star player) was rapidly approaching a level beyond heated. He appreciated that there was a history between them he wasn’t entirely privy to, but-- 

“Ooh.”

He winced as the two clashed into each other again, hacking away like there was no tomorrow. He could feel the ref bearing down on them – it was almost barbaric, or worse, almost like something out of ice hockey. And if Buffy got herself suspended…

“The Cup is doomed.”

*****

Buffy spat the dirt out of her mouth. Picked herself up. Waited as the Thorns set up their second corner. After Faith had not-too-subtly elbowed her (hard!) to the ground, she would be ready. And when the ball kicked off, she not-too-subtly returned the elbow (hard).

“Fuck you, B.”

Buffy didn’t need to say anything, she just to stand over her and smirk.

“Fuck you.” Faith lunged at her. Was caught by a handful of her teammates before she got close, and despite her best efforts, couldn’t get around their attempt to restrain her.

Buffy just had to smirk.

“It’s not my fault you can’t get laid.” Smirk. “Or that your boyfriend decided to—”

Buffy lunged at Faith.

Only to be met by teammates of her own. “Buffy, calm down,” Tara did her best to hold her back, but she still managed to slip out of her grasp.

“Fuck you, Faith.”

Faith was smirking now. “Do your worse. B.”

And Buffy would’ve, if the referee didn’t choose that exact moment to blow the whistle. As if the ref sprinted between them, Buffy only had the chance to think that she looked absolutely done with their shit before she reached into her pocket. Pulled out a red card.

“What?”

Buffy only had a second to smirk at Faith’s outraged reaction, before the ref turned to her. And showed Buffy the red.

*****

It wasn’t fair.

Buffy kicked the first water bottle she saw with all her strength the moment she stomped back into the locked room. Watched it bounce back off the wall.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t her fault Faith had decided to ascend into the world’s biggest backstabbing bitch.

It wasn’t fair.

Faith always ruined everything.

It wasn’t fair.

She knew Faith could be better than this. That Faith was better this. That Faith had been better.

It…

The worst of it was that all Buffy could think about was how Faith was probably fuming exactly the same way in the Thorns’ locker room, and how, if they were still on the same team, if they were still friends and partners and… The worst of it was that all Buffy could think about was how good it would feel just to be able to hug her.

*****

Tara didn’t blink when she opened the door to her hotel room and saw Buffy moping on her bed (Willow did though). “It’s okay.” She smiled happily. “We won.”

“Tara,” it took every bit of strength Buffy had to manage to squeeze out the words. But at least if there was one thing she could count on, no matter how stupid it sounded, Tara would never ever judge her. “Why do I care so much about Faith?”

For a moment, silence filled the room.

Until Will and Tara shared a look. “Do you want to tell her or…?”

 *****

Buffy was never an early sleeper, especially when she was resolutely determined not to think about something. Like, say, the conversation she had with her two best friends a few hours earlier.

So she did her usual midnight run routine, just three times as hard. More of a midnight sprint, really. A hard long, leg breaking, muscle aching sprint.

Problem was, it wasn’t working.

And when she reached the floodlights of the field, she somehow wasn’t surprised to find Faith her, casually flicking around a ball.

“Couldn’t sleep either, eh B?”

Buffy chose not to dignify that with a answer. Instead, she just stomped over and picked the ball away from Faith. Lofted it up and down in the fanciest-looking trick she knew. A challenge. “Let’s go.”

*****

The ball came to a rest between them as they both slumped back against a goalpost, faces plastered with sweat.

“Damn, B.”

“Yeah.”

As hard as they had gone at each other, pulling out every piece of skill and every dirty trick they knew, neither of them had been able to get an advantage over the other. And the more they went at it, the harder they challenged each other, the less they were able to get further than a draw.

And at a certain point, neither their bodies nor minds could keep going.

So they just collapsed there, by the net, feet burning, hands resting in the cool grass, fingers so close to brushing.

Resting in the silence of the night, the moon hanging over them.

“Why?” It was Buffy who finally spoke first. “Why did you do it?” Faith didn’t answer, but the way her breathing shifted made Buffy’s throat catch. “You didn’t have to run.”

Buffy didn’t need to say how much it had hurt her, and judging by the softest sniff that escaped Faith, she wasn’t the only one close to an exhausted tear.

“I would’ve done anything to help you.” The accident hadn’t been Faith’s fault. It was really Buffy’s as much as it was Faith’s. “Anything.”

“That the problem, B.” She sniffed one more time before sighing. “The way you looked was… It was the scariest thing in the world.”

“Faith, the only way I’ve ever looked at you is with…” Buffy trailed off as she turned to find Faith already looking at her, and the way the night reflected in her eyes almost broke her heart. “I don’t want to fight you anymore.” She reached for Faith’s hand. “Not like this.”

Faith traced a finger across the back of Buffy’s hand. Held on to it for dear life. “Me neither.” She braved a smile.

And before her heart could break any further, Buffy leaned over. Pressed the gentlest of kisses to Faith’s lips. Braved a smile of her own. “Never.”

Faith stared at her with something approaching an awe that made Buffy’s heart twist, her hand never letting go of Buffy’s. “Never.” She nodded, eyes more intense than Buffy had ever seen them. “I promise. Never.”

The smile that followed didn’t need to be braved. And Buffy was happy to sink backwards into Faith’s arms, to rest there for as long as Faith would let her (which would be forever), almost content, almost at peace for the first time in what felt like ages.

Almost.

After all, the Cup had only just started and they were… well, maybe it was a little too early to say exactly, even if it was good (better than good), but they were still the best damn players in the league, and they still played for arch-rival teams.

Which means they had a rematch coming up.

**Author's Note:**

> For the record: I support the Thorns, I just thought the Reign aesthetic suited Buffy better (and the Thorns' Faith). And if you're not watching the NWSL, you should absolutely get on it!


End file.
